What a game. What an afternoon. Not as comfortable as it should have been but it was enough.

Schwarzer – 7, despite QPR firing from all sorts of angles Schwarzer wasn’t really tested from crosses or shots. However he made two key saves from Wright-Phillips; the first a long range drive which he did well to keep out and the second a wonderful bit of anticipation to narrow the angle and deflect the shot wide despite Wright-Phillips being just 8 yards out.

Hangeland – 8, great performance from the big man who dominated Zamora. Can’t really add anything to Dan’s must read article on his performance yesterday.

Hughes – 7, a suprise inclusion with the return of fitness for Senderos but he did well, covering the midfield runs and doing a job on Zamora.

Riise – 6, thought he got beaten very easily at times although offered a good offensive outlet in our dominant first 20 minutes and it was a great ball in for AJ’s offside goal.

Kelly – 6.5, barely noticed him in the QPR half and perhaps could’ve pushed up more in the second 45 but he dealt with the threat and pace of Taiwo and Mackie well.

Murphy – 7, sprayed it around for fun in the first half, a conductive performance but his influence diminished and was rightly taken off.

Dembele – 8, he ran the midfield. I have been so impressed by Dembele in this central midfield position where his mobility and ability to glide over the pitch is really accentuated. He can just come short, pick up the ball and play it off or charge forward at the defence. Wonderful player.

Dempsey – 6, I can’t remember Dempsey being so quiet in a game this season. He should have scored in the first half definately, dragging a shot disappointingly wide, and played a lovely ball through to Ruiz at the begining of the second who failed to round the keeper, but other than a couple of other breaks into the box he really didn’t have much influence.

Ruiz – 7, sparkled in the first half and enjoyed the space that QPR offered him, but like Murphy the aggressiveness of QPR in the second half meant that he couldn’t really shine and he didn’t exploit the space out wide. Understandably subbed.

Johnson – 7.5, he played in the deeper role behind the striker which was unusual so we didn’t see his pace stretch the defence but just connect the attacking possession around the pitch and he did very very well. Would have liked to have seen him pushed up alongside Pogrebnyak when QPR went down to 10 though so we could stretch the play.

Pogrebnyak – 7.5, his goal was really well taken and he put himself about for the rest of it. Really like the start he’s made. And what a celebration!

~Subs~

Baird – 6, came on to solidify the midfield and the tide was somewhat stemmed.

Duff – N/A, offered the width we needed, unlike Ruiz, and perhaps could’ve come on earlier (a point Jol conceded).

Etuhu – N/A, I thought Etuhu did very well when he came on actually, we regained control of the game, although he should have scored.

~lork